The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester stands on the site of the former Liverpool Road Station, one of Manchester’s most important historic sites. Liverpool Road Station only operated as a passenger station from 1830 to 1844, but continued as a goods station until 1975.
At that time, the Museum needed a permanent home, and in 1969, the North Western Museum of Science and Industry was founded, however, this in turn quickly outgrew its temporary premises. Its main investor, Greater Manchester Council, agreed to purchase Liverpool Road Station from British Rail for the token sum of £1 in 1978.
The Museum opened at its new site on 15 September 1983, the 153rd anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
The Museum chose Access Gamma to design and implement a comprehensive management information system that will provide an end-to-end solution. Based on the LeisurePOS modular system Access Gamma has installed a system that handles all aspects of visitor management.
The LeisurePOS modules supplied to the Museum included:
• Booking and Event Management
• Stock Control and Purchase Orders
The POS and booking and membership modules also include on-line credit card authorisation.
The admissions module manages sales to visitors attending special exhibitions, while the booking module deals with advance sales, education groups and corporate events.
Given the size of the physical area occupied by the Museum, there was a requirement to be able to manage temporary entrance points as well as provide a facility for ‘queue busting’ on busy days. To meet this challenge, the Museum chose to implement the Gamma PalmTill device, a hand-held PC with magnetic card swipe and portable receipt/ticket printer.
